


Kindling

by SumDumMuffin



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Drama, Dysfunctional Relationships, F/F, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-11
Updated: 2020-08-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:54:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25843906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SumDumMuffin/pseuds/SumDumMuffin
Summary: Everyone assumes Ty Lee and Azula are dating, except for Ty Lee and Azula themselves.
Relationships: Azula/Ty Lee (Avatar)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 126





	Kindling

**Author's Note:**

> I guarantee no expertise in Avatar universe lore, romance, not realizing your best friend has a crush on you, grammar, or finishing sentences.
> 
> This doesn't really fit anywhere in canon. I guess its based on a vague idea of the world at the beginning of season 3, with other elements that enable the scenarios to occur.
> 
> I intend for Azula to become a better person by the end, but I'll hold off on adding 'Azula Redemption' to the tags until I actually write it happening.

The first time, Ty Lee figured it was just, imperial dynasty stuff.

“Ty Lee,” intoned the sovereign ruler of their nation, and the rightful ruler of the whole world, and also her best friend’s dad. He had managed to sneak up on her which she supposed was in the training regimen for members of the royal family.

Ty Lee immediately genuflected, completely. “My Liege.” 

“At ease, citizen,” the Fire Lord said. So, Ty Lee stood up. 

This felt like a test, but on second thought Ty Lee figured the Fire Lord wouldn’t let his beloved daughter hang out with anyone without vetting them. (And come to think of it, he had done something like this back when Ty Lee first met Azula back in the royal fire academy.) 

The Fire Lord looked out the window with his arms folded behind his back. “My daughter seems to have taken a liking to you.” 

“Oh! Yes, it is an honour.” Ty Lee clasped her hands behind her back. “I am humbled to be so adored by her.” 

The Fire Lord nodded. He inhaled and then exhaled, probably as a practiced form of giving weight to his words. “Azula will be Fire Lord someday. So it is important that those close to her know her worth, and are dedicated to helping her achieve her goals.” 

Ty Lee was almost too preoccupied by the acknowledgement that Zuko was the un-favored child to realize there was an implicit question there. 

“Oh! Yes, I always try to make Azula happy. And, we work, well together?” Ty Lee said. 

The Fire Lord seemed satisfied with that answer, “As it should be. I am glad you know your role. You are dismissed. “ 

Of course, Ty Lee didn’t point out that she was in the room first, because the only member of the royal family you could survive arguing with was Zuko. 

  
  


* * *

  


  


Speaking of, when Zuko said it, Ty Lee figured it was probably, just, him being worse than Azula at friendship as well as everything else. 

One day while Ty Lee was doing her flexibility stretches, Zuko came to visit her. 

“Hey Ty Lee. Can we talk?” Zuko rubbed the back of his head. “I wanted your advice…” 

Ty Lee smiled and looked up from her handstand. “Sure thing! What’s up?” 

Zuko scrunched his mouth to the side. “Oh, I just, had another fight with Mai. So, part of it’s, I’m getting space, but another part of it is, what do I do now?” 

“Oh no!” Ty Lee said. “I’m sorry. You two seem to fight a lot.” 

“Don’t I know it.” Zuko sighed. “How do you handle your fights with Azula?”

Ty Lee switched to laying on the ground, hugging her leg as a flexibility exercise. “Oh. We, don’t fight.” 

“Really?” Zuko said. “I guess you two really are perfect for each other.” 

Ty Lee smiled. “Aw, I don’t know about that~~” 

“But that really makes you special, to never disagree with someone as strong headed as my sister.” 

Ty Lee tempered her smile. She sat up. “Well, I, actually meant that-” She wobbled her head on her neck. “It’s like, I try really hard to avoid fights with her at all costs, even if I do disagree with her.” 

Zuko scrunched his mouth to the side. “Oh? I would think if there’s anyone she can have a cordial disagreement with, it’d be you.” 

“I- well, I never had to test that,” Ty Lee said. “So- maybe! She’s really smart, so she’s usually right, and if she’s upset usually I just have to remind her of how smart and pretty she is and usually that cheers her right up.”

Zuko nodded, tentatively. "And you're, okay with that?” 

“Sure.” Ty Lee shrugged. “Like, I have six sisters. At home we were always fighting. Even if I tried to stay on their good sides, inevitably a fight would break out,” Ty Lee scrunched her mouth to the side. “Aaannd, honestly, I usually didn’t, even try to avoid fights.”

Ty Lee rolled over on her back and went into another stretching routine. “So, It’s nice that Azula and I don't end up doing that, even if I'm abnegating myself every so often. But I’m fine with that!” 

Zuko cogitated.

Ty Lee flipped onto her feet holding the pose for a second. “So, I guess, maybe you’re right. In a way, I am perfect for her.”

Zuko nodded, sagely. “So, you’re saying that if I want to get along with Mai, I should just defer to everything she says?” 

“I guess so?” Ty Lee said. “Just, treat her like you’re afraid of her. It’s foolproof.” 

Zuko nodded, sagely. “Sounds good. Thanks, Ty Lee.” 

  


* * *

  


  


“These parties are tiresome,” Azula listlessly gazed into her cup of juice as she twirled it around. “Though I understand the necessity of them. I am glad you’re here to keep me company.” 

“Aww, no problem, Azula!” Ty Lee said. 

It was just another social event. It was an excuse for nobles to give them food and to look important. So, of course, the whole royal family had to be there, and Ty Lee was Azula's plus-one.

“Aaand, I agree with you.” Ty Lee continued, “ Like, none of the boys here have asked me to dance, and we’ve been here at the center of the room for like three hours.” 

“Is that so?” Azula said, “But you’re so beautiful. I would think boys would be literally lining up to talk to you.” 

“I know, right?” 

Azula scrunched her mouth to the side. 

“But!” Ty Lee said, quickly, “You’re so beautiful too! The Most beautiful, most smartest girl in the world.” 

Ty Lee then realized her blunder. “So- I’m sure that people aren’t asking to dance with you because this isn’t a dancing party-"

Azula scrunched her mouth to the side, and then Ty Lee noticed the dance floor, and the people dancing together on it.

“I- ah, well, maybe they all the people here know their place too much to ask to dance with the Fire Lord’s daughter-” 

Ty Lee visibly sweated. C’mon girl, think- how can you spin this to flatter her- 

“Well,” Azula said. And if Ty Lee didn’t know better, there was just a hint of a stutter in her voice, “I suppose if you would still like to dance, _I_ could just dance with you....” 

Ty Lee smiled. “Sure!” 

  
  
  
  
  
  


The dance was nice. Azula was a little stiff and tried not to hold her as close as most of the boys that asked Ty Lee to dance did (And Ty Lee would believe it if the current royal administration put less focus on ceremonial dancing in lieu of, like, statecraft or ruthlessly crushing revolts or something) 

Even though Azula was only like a little bit taller than her, she really seemed to fit the leading role.

  


* * *

  


  


And at some point, they were off to fight the Avatar and his band of rebels. Ty Lee wasn’t really paying attention as to why. Something about, a selection of ancient tablets or something? 

It was nice to go on a field trip, though. Mai and Zuko were cuddled up in one corner of the transport which meant that it was up to Ty Lee to make sure Azula didn’t get antsy. She managed to rope Azula into cloud-watching with her, so that the princess could have an activity that was distracting but still something she could complain about with plausible deniability.

  
  
  
  
  


They managed to catch up to the Avatar when he was talking about his feelings with his team. Azula dropped a one liner and there was a brief skirmish before the good guys created a distraction and used it to split up, to run away in different directions.

Zuko decided to take the Avatar, Mai took on the earthbender and she and Azula chased the water tribe siblings through a small rebel militia. 

  
  
  
  
  
  


Azula and Ty Lee really did work well together. 

She took a bit of pride in that. Like, sure Ty Lee wasn’t a bender, so they weren’t doing like, synchronous firebending (or even any of the cool multi-element moves like team Avatar always did), but they were effective nonetheless.

Azula fought with perfect form and violent purpose and Ty Lee was flexible enough to fill in the remainder. 

See, she was flexible in more than just the literal way. Azula would do her moves (perfectly) to disrupt the enemy formation and Ty lee would capitalize on the disarray, or if Azula was focused on defeating team Avatar’s waterbender Ty Lee would cover Azula’s flank or even just help her weather a counterattack because sometimes brute, direct strength can be predictable, and easily countered. 

And Azula was free to be as strong as she wanted, as strong as she could be, without having to worry about Ty Lee getting in the blast zone. (Like, there was a reason Mai was primarily a ranged fighter; she couldn’t adapt to surviving in close quarters with Azula.) It was cool that they trusted each other like that. 

  
  
  


* * *

  


When the rest of the villains left, Zuko and Aang’s fight settled into their standard training form, facing each other, wrists touching as they circled each other. 

"Your stance has improved!" Aang said. 

Zuko smushed his lips together. “Thanks.” he coughed. “Yours has too.” 

They did the next part of the training regime. “So how have you been? Ready to defect yet?” 

“Heh, you always ask that,” Zuko said, “And- I. Ah- It’s- it's complicated.” 

“Okay, don’t worry,” Aang said, “It sounds like you’re going through a lot.” 

“You could say that again,” Zuko said, “So anyway-” 

  
  


* * *

  
  
  


A week or so later, they were fighting Team Avatar for another thingy, and Ty Lee got sidetracked fighting some rebel militias. 

It was no biggie, and it was dark so she had a few more scratches on her than normal, but she still managed to catch up to the rest of her group in some big antechamber, where Azula was in a stand-off with Team Avatar’s water- and earthbender. 

“- and we never even saw the tablet,” Azula said. “In fact, I don’t even know what you’re talking about. 

“She’s not lying,” the earthbender said. 

The waterbender yelled. “Yes she is! We know you stashed it somewhere in the temple-” 

“There you are Ty Lee- ah!” Azula said. She flinced. “Ty Lee, are you okay? Your top certainly isn’t.”

“That was a lie,” Toph said. 

Katara covered her eyes with her hands. “No it wasn’t….” 

“Oh, this?” Ty Lee tried re-wrapping her left breast in the remains of her shirt. “This isn’t a big deal. I have three more shirts like it.” 

“Huh,” the earthbender said, “But Azula’s heart rate just shot up.” Apparently they were on first-name terms, so, maybe Ty Lee should ask for the names of their now usual adversaries. 

Azula pulled off her coat and ran over to her. “Here, you should, wear this for the rest of today.” 

“And maybe reconsider your choice of combat attire,” the waterbender said. 

  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  


Ty Lee figured that, eventually, their fights with Team Avatar would end with a loss. Or like, team Avatar would adapt or learn a new skill or something and her team wouldnt be prepared for it. So like, when that happened the third time they fought the Avatar, Ty Lee was only a little surprised.

“Not so fun to not have control over your body, is it Ty Lee?” said the waterbender. She waved her arms and Ty Lee’s limbs contorted as if controlled by some otherworldly force. 

“Ah!” Ty Lee cried out in pain. 

“Give us the tablet!” the waterbender yelled, to the rest of Ty Lee’s team (Idly, she wondered if they had a team name, or if Team Avatar was actually their oponent's real team name.) “Or your little friend gets it!” 

Ty Lee’s arms twisted behind her back. “Augh!”

“Katara….” the Avatar said, cautiously. 

“Ty Lee!” Azula yelled out. She turned to the waterbender and glaree. “You’ll let her go if you know what’s good for you!” 

“Maybe I’ll just take her out now that I’ve got the chance,” Katara seethed.

“Katara,” The Avatar said, “I’m not entirely comfortable with this-” 

“You want them to win again?” Katara yelled. “Over and over, the fire nation is one step ahead of us because they don’t care about playing fair!” 

And Ty Lee lurched forward, stiltedly, against her will, to awkwardly attack her friends. 

“Im sorry-” Ty Lee said- 

“Stop it!” Azula yelled, towards Katara. “Okay, you can have the tablet, just let her go-” 

Azula turned to Zuko. “Zuko, get the tablet-” 

Zuko blinked. “Woah, really?” Then he pulled out the thingy they were fighting over. “I mean, I was in favor of that, but I figured we’d have to convince you to give up the tablet-” 

“Alright, we have it,” Azula called out, “Let her go and we’ll throw it to you!” 

“Give us the tablet first!” Katara yelled. She remotely twisted Ty Lee’s arm behind her back, and Ty Lee cried out in pain again.

“Also,” the Avatar made a grimace, “maybe, don’t _throw_ the ancient stone tablet gifted to benders by the spirits-” 

Azula glanced at the chunk of stone in her hand. “How do we know you’ll let her go if I give it to you?” 

“I guess you know how _we_ feel,” Katara spat. She shot a look at Zuko, who avoided eye contact. “All the time.” 

Latently, Ty Lee tried to experiment with how much control over her limbs she had, since her best bet was probably gonna be to escape on her own as Azula pretended to consider the deal-

“Fine,” Azula said. She placed the tablet on the ground and walked away. The Avatar earthbended the ground around it to pull it to his feet.

And Ty Lee was suddenly able to move under her own power again. She fell to the ground. 

And just as suddenly, Azula was holding her. Azula looked into Ty Lee’s eyes for two seconds, saying nothing. The pain subsided in Ty Lee’s limbs. 

Then Azula’s regular expression was back. She looked to the rest of their team. “Alright, get them.” 

  


  


And it was a good chase, but the Avatar had a flying bison so they had much better escape capabilities. 

  


* * *

  


  


"How’d you manage to get Ty Lee to play along?” Sokka asked his sister? Conversationally. 

“What?” 

“Like, she was really selling it, that you were going to kill her.” 

Toph scrunched her mouth to the side. 

“Ahaha,” Katara said. “Would you believe, I just asked politely?”

Toph coughed. _“I_ want to know why you didn’t just bloodbend their whole team.” 

“Well, duh,” Katara blew some hair out of her face, “Because Azula wasn’t going to give up the tablet to save _herself_.”

  


  


* * *

  


“So was it just me,” Zuko said, “Or was Katara kind of cool back there?” 

Mai shot him a glare.

  


* * *

  


When they were back at their bivouac, it only took two minutes for Azula to come visit Ty Lee in her tent. 

“Hey Azula-,” Ty Lee bowed, “I’m sorry we lost the thingy because of me-” 

Azula hugged her. 

It, well- 

Azula never hugged anyone. Ty Lee was the only one allowed to hug _her,_ but Azula never initiated hugs. This time, Azula held her- but differently than she used to- 

Like, sure, they had hugged and danced and even occasionly had to lug each other's bodies around combat situations before, but this time, Azula was gentle but firm, paradoxically- her arms were steady, but relaxed whenever Ty Lee shifted so to never impede her motion- as if she wanted her as close as possible.

All in all, it was nice. 

Azula took a breath. “I swear, I will make that peasant pay for what she did to you.” 

Ty Lee made a smile. “Oh, that’s- that’s okay-” 

Azula nodded. “I’m glad you approve.” 

“Ummm,” Ty Lee coughed, “I more meant, that I feel fine now, so no harm no foul, right? But! If you, want to, then go for it, but like,” Ty Lee said, “I don’t want you to get hurt if you go out of your way. I’d rather you be here with me!” 

Azula stepped out of the hug and she looked into Ty Lee’s eyes with a soft smile. “Well, I suppose, if you say so.” 

Azula then took Ty Lee’s hand and gently rubbed her wrist with her thumb. “It’s just, when you got taken away from me, I got so angry.” 

Azula’s face was red, as she continued. “And I think I realized something, just then….” 

“Oh?” Ty Lee said, “What’s th-”

And Azula kissed her.   


  


  


Just a press of the lips together- a little too forceful, since Ty Lee was pretty sure this was Azula’s first kiss- with her eyes closed and her hands gripping Ty Lee’s wrists as Azula just held her lips against hers. 

  


  


Ty Lee blinked. 

  


  


And when Azula stopped back, she was smiling, breathily, and her face was flushed- 

And when Azula opened her eyes her expression immediately fell and Ty Lee realized she had forgot to regulate her own expression- 

Azula turned to the wall. ”I- I apologize-” 

“Oh no no no-” Ty lee said, quickly. She refreshed her face and pulled Azula’s head to her sternum in a hug, and smooched the top of Azula’s head. With an accompanying sound effect. 

“It’s only natural to want to smooch something you care about,” Ty Lee soothed, “Especially if they’re cute!” 

Azula untensed, slightly, under her arms. She didn’t return the hug. “Yes. Of course.” 

And once Ty Lee released the hug, Azula stepped back and turned away. 

“I- um, just,” Azula said without turning back to her, “-Let me know if you need anything.” 

And she awkwardly marched out of the tent. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


  


And as soon as Azula’s footsteps faded from earshot, Ty Lee retreated to her bed to hide under her covers and her whole body was shaking as she hugged her knees and she sobbed. 

Being friends was one thing. They were actually really good together in a lot of ways. Mostly in ways that meant Ty Lee was covering up for Azula’s personality. And Azula _was_ incredibly pretty. 

  


But like-

  


If Azula liked her- 

  


If Azula _wanted_ her… 

  


That changed everything. 

  


Ty Lee saw her life lay out for her, now. She knew what happened to the things Azula wanted. And what happened to the things Azula grew tired of- 

And there was no refusing the emperor of your nation, or his daughter. 

  


Ty Lee breathed, to center herself, to prepare for her new life, because she had a long road of abnegating herself ahead of her.

  


  



End file.
